1. Field of Endeavor
This invention relates principally to mechanical sleep aids, specifically to a comfortable, lightweight device which is secured to one's body to prevent sleeping on one's back where the worst snoring occurs due to soft tissues in the throat collapsing and blocking the airway. When a sleeping person wearing this device attempts to roll from a side to a supine position, the present invention acts immediately to resist the rolling motion while remaining in position comfortably on the person's body all night.
The present invention will aid those persons who snore loudly enough to wake themselves and/or to annoy a sleeping partner. It will also help to alert those whose sleep quality is not improved by alleviation of snoring to seek proper medical treatment.
Another significant benefit is the avoidance of heart and lung damage to those whom it prevents from sleeping in the supine position. It will also serve to make sleep apnea oral prostheses more effective by lessening the pull of gravity on throat tissues caused by sleeping in the supine position. Finally, it will aid compliance by Continuous Positive air pressure (C-Pap) users by lowering the maximum pressure needed when the gravity factor is lessened.
2. Description of Prior Art
Sleep clinics have often recommended an altered T-shirt having a vertical rear pocket encasing one or more tennis balls to prevent sleeping on one's back. This and similar devices seldom achieve the desired objective. The T-shirt usually doesn't fit snugly enough to prevent the tennis balls from shifting out of position.
A more serious disadvantage is that the tennis balls are not compressed until a back-reclining position is reached at which point they do not provide sufficient resistance to remaining on one's back. A more recent approach, the present inventor's previously patented device, the Snore Reducer Jacket (U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,893 issued Sep. 19, 2001) does not consistently resist rolling into the supine position and lacks anti-slip provisions nor is it comfortable all night.